BOSTON, US — The US Federal Reserve’s plan to continue to increase interest rates in the US will likely drive consolidation in the sector, a veteran US-based seafood banker told Undercurrent News.

Earlier in March, the Fed voted to raise the range of the federal funds rate to 0.75% and 1.00%, citing progress in labor market growth, business fixed investment and inflation. According to an article from Yahoo Finance, officials also forecast three rate hikes in 2018, with the rate reaching its long-run goal of 3.0% in 2019.

“How will the industry react to the cost of money going up? There has been a lot of cheap money around, but this is going to change,” Ignacio Kleiman, managing partner of seafood-focused boutique Antarctica Advisors told Undercurrent, during the 2017 Boston seafood show. Read more →